Page 21 of Wicked Enemy

When I had lived in the Court, Levi had told me that Gemma always kept her front door unlocked, in case someone needed healing urgently. After all, no one in Malgrave would ever be stupid or suicidal enough to try to attack Gemma. The other dark mages had apparently tried to convince her to leave and work for them instead, but for some reason, she had always turned them down. And even with Levi this weakened, no one would be dumb enough to try to take her by force.

But a worldwalker from the north would know nothing about the political situation in Malgrave and care nothing about the power scales and customs here. He could just walk right in through the open front door and abduct Gemma.

With worry twisting through my insides, I made my way back towards the stairwell. If Gemma was here, she would have heard me by now. But maybe she was sleeping? Maybe she had spent the entire night healing Levi and his people after yet another attack, and was now too exhausted to even hear me call out.

Pain sliced into my heart at the thought, but I pushed it aside. Levi’s problems were no longer my concern. I was only going to warn Gemma and then I was going to leave.

Reaching the landing upstairs, I was met by yet another corridor made of metal that Gemma had tried to soften by putting up paintings of woodlands. There were two doors in it. I made my way towards the closest one.

It revealed what looked like a study. Wooden bookcases were crammed against every wall, and rows upon rows of books and scrolls filled the shelves. I quickly closed the door again and hurried towards the next one.

A spacious bedroom, with large windows that let in the bright sunlight, met me on the other side. I immediately snapped my gaze to the bed along the far wall.

Panic shot up my spine as my eyes landed on an empty bed with smooth cream-colored sheets. She wasn’t sleeping. She wasn’there.

With one hand still gripping the handle, I stared into the deserted bedroom while alarm clanged louder and louder inside my mind. Was I too late? Had the worldwalker already been here and kidnapped her?

And where the hell was Levi?

He hadn’t come out to kill me when I passed his Court, and I knew that he could see the whole street from his bedroom window. He must have seen me walk up to Gemma’s place. Unless he wasn’t even here.

Releasing the handle, I raised my hands and instead dragged my fingers through my hair while heaving a deep sigh. “Fuck.”

“An accurate assessment of your current situation.”

Shock crackled through me like a lightning strike.

Yanking my hands back down, I got ready to slap them together while I whipped around to face the source of the voice.

But before I had even finished spinning around, two strong hands were on me.

A thud echoed into the silent hallway as I was slammed back first into the wall next to the door. And I would have gasped in surprise and pain if I could, but the hand around my throat was cutting off all my air. Probably in an attempt to prevent me from screaming for help. The other hand kept my right wrist pinned against the wall next to my head.

My instincts kicked in, and I yanked up my leg, intending to knee my attacker in the balls. But he deftly shifted aside. And as my eyes finally focused on his face, I found a flash of annoyance blowing across those harsh features.

Dread sluiced through my veins, but before I could do anything else, he used his grip on my throat to force me up until I was barely balancing on my toes. And then he tightened his fingers even more. A choked gurgling noise tore from me as I struggled underneath his iron grip.

“I would suggest refraining from such activities, if I were you,” he said, his voice deceptively smooth.

Using my free hand, I tried desperately to get his hand off my throat, but it was no use. The man before me was built like a damn fortress. He was terrifyingly muscular, and even taller than Levi. Almost as tall as that other mage I had seen with Callan Blackwell earlier. He was holding up practically my entire body weight with just one arm, but he didn’t even seem to be feeling the strain at all.

I hadn’t been able to grab my sword before darting away from our headquarters, since I couldn’t risk attracting the attention of my colleagues, so I had nothing to stab the bastard with either.

My toes scraped against the metal floor as I fought to get free for another few seconds before realizing that I would never succeed. Going slack in his grip, I instead just stared back at the man holding me.

His blue eyes were so pale that they almost looked white, and the color seemed to have bled out of his blond hair as well.

He studied me intently, as if looking for something.

Then a smile curled his lips, and he lowered me back fully to the floor. My lungs were burning from the lack of air, but I remained motionless so that I wouldn’t give him an excuse to pull me up again.

Black spots began swimming in my vision.

At last, his grip on my throat loosened. Not enough for me to escape, but enough to allow me to breathe again. I sucked in desperate breaths to refill my lungs while the man before me kept watching me with keen eyes.

I had never seen him before, which meant that he probably wasn’t one of Levi’s people. He could of course be a new recruit, but the warning bells clanging in my head told me that this man was someone else entirely.

He had just appeared out of nowhere right in the corridor. I hadn’t heard him open the front door. Or walk up the steps. Which meant that there was only one possibility left.

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